Abstract:
The objective of this study was to establish quality attributes of local chicken meat supplied in Dodoma roast meat outlets. A questionnaire and on site observations were used to collect data from randomly selected respondents that included live chicken suppliers, retail sellers, middlemen and managers of selected chicken roast meat outlets. Data collected include chicken live body weight, estimated age, ecotype, sex and source of origin. Random samples of fresh local chicken breast muscle were taken from a batch of the day sale from the outlets for analysis of tenderness, cooking loss and total lipid. Further, consumer satisfaction study was conducted by random selection of consumers who attended in the outlets and were given the meat to taste, followed by an interview. Data were analysed using general linear model procedure of Statistical Analysis System (SAS, 2000) and those derived from interview the Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS, 2007) was used. The results indicated that most of the local chicken sold at the Dodoma local chicken roast meat outlets come from nearby Dodoma rural district (26%). Other sources include those from distant districts including Bahi (22%), Kondoa (16%) and Singida region (22%). Selected birds for slaughter were aged between 6 and 12 months averaging 1.3 kg. The results also revealed that the local chicken roast meats sold at the outlets were moderately tender (25.35N/m2) with moderate total lipid (0.3±0.1%). It was also noted that 64% of the consumers were satisfied with the product. These findings have implications on selection of birds derived from scavenging mode of production for roasting. It is concluded from this study that tenderness is by large determined by a balance between slaughter age and weight, thus producer who wish to enter the market have to respond to this demand.
